Cathy Cavallo

Cathy Cavallo

In our rapidly changing marine environment, understanding interactions between trophic levels and with the physical environment is key to ensuring the sustainability of valuable fisheries, while protecting ecosystem health. Seabirds have been identified as good indicators of ecosystem health in marine systems, where direct monitoring of many species and functional groups is impossible.

The focus of my PhD research is to determine prey species abundance and availability within northwest Bass Strait, using an iconic top predator- the little penguin. This data will be used to inform ecosystem models of the area, providing for better ecosystem management and conservation.